Dominic Barone

A 2-D Inertial Particle Separator Research Facility

The effects of sand and dust ingestion often limit the useful life of turbine engines operating in austere environments and efforts are needed to reduce the quantity of particulate entering the engine. Engine integral particle separators are one technology that can be used to remove sand and dust from the incoming air. Integral particle separators offer significant weight savings, are more compact, and have a lower total pressure loss, but may be less efficient compared with airframe installed separator technologies. In order to further improve the efficiency of integral particle separators, an in depth study of the multidimensional multiphase flow dynamics has been undertaken. A facility has been designed and built at the University of Virginia capable of reproducing various flow conditions that are seen in separator systems to understand the related particle and flow physics. The facility is capable of measuring overall sand separation efficiency and can accommodate several different measurement techniques in the tunnel test section, such as surface flow visualization and optical diagnostic techniques. This work is focused on the detailed description of the facility development. In addition, preliminary measurements of efficiency and surface flow visualizations are also presented as an indication of further work.

Particle Dynamics of a 2-D Inertial Particle Separator

The effects of sand and dust ingestion often limit the useful life of turbine engines operating in austere environments and efforts are needed to reduce the quantity of particulate entering the engine. Several Engine Air Particle Separation (EAPS) systems exist to accomplish this task. Inertial Particle Separators (IPS) are of particular interest because they offer significant weight savings and are more compact. This study focuses on the how small particles are affected by the dynamic fluid forces present in the IPS. Using Multi-Phase Particle Image Velocimetry (MP-PIV), 10um and 35um glass spheres were tracked through the IPS. Further, the data was also used to analyze the particles Coefficient of Restitution, (CORn), where they impact the Outer Surface Geometry (OSG) of the IPS.Copyright

Inertial Particle Separator Efficiency Using Spherical Particles

Understanding the underlying flow mechanisms of inertial particle separators is important to creating more efficient separators. Previous experiments have utilized test dusts that vary dramatically in size and shape. These factors make it difficult to validate computational models due to the complexity that they introduce into the system; on top of an already complex flow field. Efficiency measurements were completed using spherical particles to isolate these effects on IPS efficiency. Three different particle sizes were tested at three different flow splits on each geometry. Large particles were shown to bounce through the IPS with near 100% efficiency at any flow split. As particles become smaller, their separation efficiency decreases due to the increase of fluid influences. The smallest spheres tested showed significant loss in efficiency that is more than expected. These effects are important to understand for modeling and prediction of IPS operation and efficiency.

Unsteady Flow Dynamics Within an Inertial Particle Separator

Inertial Particle Separators are utilized in the inlet of a gas turbine engine to remove a significant fraction of the damaging sand and dust particulate ingested by the engine. In gas turbine propulsion applications these devices have pressure loss, space claim, and maintainability characteristics that are more favorable than other types of particle separating devices. Maximizing the particle separation efficient of such devices is the subject of continuing importance. A more complete understanding of the underlying fluid and particulate flow mechanisms present has been undertaken. This study focuses on the how particulate is affected by the unsteady flow dynamics within the inertial particle separator (IPS). The work utilized a particle separator test rig with flow path scale and airflow velocities relevant to that used in current production designs. The techniques of surface flow visualization, net separation efficiency measurement, specific geometry changes, traditional Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Multi-Phase PIV (MP-PIV), and high speed video were each applied to examine the fundamental flow physics of the fluid flow field and the particle motion created by the IPS geometries.Copyright